The Catalan ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ recognised again as the world’s second best restaurant

London (ACN).- ‘El Celler de Can Roca’, located in the Catalan city of Girona, has been recognised again as the world’s second best restaurant. On Monday evening in London, ‘Restaurant Magazine’ organised a gala to announce the names of the 50 best restaurants in the world. For the second consecutive year, the restaurant run by the Roca brothers is considered the second best restaurant in the world, after they already received the distinction in 2011. The chef Joan Roca runs the kitchen of ‘El Celler de Can Roca’, originally a family restaurant that was revamped and entered gastronomy’s star system several years ago. Joan Roca runs this 3 Michelin Star restaurant together with his two brothers: Jordi, who takes care of the desserts, and Josep, the house sommelier. Joan Roca said he and his team would continue, “working with the same excitement, the same will, and the same joy as always”. ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ has become the flagship of the cuisine made in Catalonia after the famed Catalan chef Ferran Adrià decided to close El Bulli, which had been considered for many years as the best restaurant in the world. Adrià was also present in the ‘Restaurant Magazine’ gala, to promote Catalan cuisine and to announce he will open a restaurant in London similar to the one opened in Barcelona together with his brother Albert, called ‘41º’, based on small bites, seafood and cocktails. The Basque restaurants ‘Mugaritz’ and ‘Arzak’ have been respectively ranked in third and eighth positions on the world’s best restaurants list.

The Catalan ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ has been recognised as the second best restaurant in the world after the Danish ‘Noma’, run by René Redzepi and based in an old warehouse at Copenhagen Port. ‘Noma’ has been awarded this distinction for the third year in a row. In 2010 it took the throne as the best restaurant in the world from ‘El Bulli’, located in Catalonia’s Costa Brava and run by the Catalan chef Ferran Adrià. In fact, René Redzepi was one of Adrià’s pupils in Adrià’s restaurant in the town of Roses. For four years in a row, from 2006 to 2009, and also in 2002, El Bulli, topped Restaurant Magazine’s ranking; and in 2010 it held second position. In 2011, El Bulli was no longer included in the ranking of the 50 best restaurants of the world because it announced it was closing its doors in July, after Ferran Adrià had been recognised as “the chef of the decade”. In fact, Adrià decided to close El Bulli to reopen it again in 2014 transformed into the ‘El Bulli Foundation’, which will no longer be a regular restaurant but a research centre, exploring the links between food, arts and design.

Despite ‘Noma’, ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ and ‘Mugaritz’ repeating last year’s podium, the gala offered some surprises. Brazil’s ‘D.O.M.’, run by Alex Atala, passed from seventh to  fourth position in the ranking. Last year’s number 4, Italy’s ‘Osteria Francescana’, was recognised as the fifth best restaurant in 2012. The sixth position was for the North American ‘Per Se’. Heston Blumenthal’s ‘Dinner’ has entered the ranking this year and is in ninth position.

Joan Roca will continue to work “with the same excitement as always”

After the restaurant he runs was awarded the second best restaurant in the world, Joan Roca told ACN he was “very calm”. Roca said he and his team would continue, “working with the same excitement, the same will, and the same joy as always”. “We maintain these privileged positions, which are very important, which deserve a lot of merit looking at the level [of the other restaurants], looking at the strength of other restaurants from throughout the world”, he added. Joan Roca also said that this recognition will make food lovers and “gourmets from all over the world come to Catalonia to get to know” his restaurant and Catalan cuisine, and also “spend some days in our country”. Finally, Joan Roca thanked the votes he received and promised not to let his followers down, as he will continue, “making the cuisine I like”, “from home, where I feel very comfortable”.